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In
Remembrance: William Hootkins
William Hootkins, the stout character actor who appeared in the
initial installments of a hat-trick of genre movie series- Star
Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman- has passed away on
October 23, 2005 in Santa Monica, CA. He was 58.
Born July
5, 1948 in Dallas Texas, Hootkins made his acting debut in a school
production that featured fellow student and future film star Tommy
Lee Jones. Attending Princeton University, Hootkins initially
studied astrophysics and Chinese linguistics before becoming
involved with the university’s Theatre Intime group. After
graduation, he moved to Great Britain to study at the London Academy
of Music and Dramatic Arts on the advice of his friend, actor John
Lithgow.
In 1977, Hootkins landed one of his first screen roles, that of
Rebel fighter pilot Jek Porkins, in director George Lucas’ initial
Star Wars film. Although he received only a few minutes worth
of screen time, the character made an impression with fans, though
Hootkins didn’t realize that initially.
“I still didn't realize what power would come from that job until a
year later I received my first fan letter,” he recalled for a July
2003 interview with Whatsonstage.com. “In it was a drawing of my
scene by a little boy, and it was actually a clearer and more
understandable version of the scene than George Lucas'! He asked if
he could have an autographed photo. When I checked the return
address, it was the leukemia ward of a children's hospital. It's a
blessing to me that I have any power to make even the tiniest
difference in other people's lives.”
Hootkins would feature in another Lucas production, 1981’s
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), the first film in the Indiana
Jones series starring Harrison Ford, playing one of two shadowy
government functionaries who enlist the swashbuckling archaeologist
to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant before Adolph Hitler’s agents
do. Once the Ark is turned over to the government it is Hootkins’
character who ominously informs Indy that it will be studied by “top
men.”
In 1989, Hootkins memorably portrayed the slovenly Lt. Eckhardt, a
Gotham City cop on the take from the local crime mobs in Tim
Burton’s Batman.
Hootkins
essayed a variety of supporting roles throughout the 80s and 90s,
appearing in such films as Flash Gordon (1980), Trail Of
The Pink Panther (1982), Curse Of The Pink Panther
(1983), White Nights (1985), Haunted Honeymoon (1986),
The Pope Must Die (1991), A River Runs Through It
(1992) and The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1996).
Hootkins also appeared in numerous British stage productions
including Dreams in an Empty City and What a Way to Run a
Revolution in the West End; Orpheus Descending at the
Donmar Warehouse; The Dentist, The Watergate Tapes and Terry
Johnson’s Insignificance at the Royal Court. In 2003 he
received critical raves for portraying British film director Alfred
Hitchcock in the London stage production Hitchcock Blonde.
His final film appearance is in Colour Me Kubrick, which is
set to be released next year. |
